John Andretti hasn't placed better than 28th in his four Cup races this year. Credit: Autostock

10 Questions: John Andretti

John Andretti is currently enduring one of the more frustrating seasons in his long tenure in NASCAR's premier division, the Nextel Cup Series.

Andretti began the season with a new sponsorship program and high hopes, but since the sponsor's dollars failed to appear, Andretti has bounced between the Craftsman Truck Series and Nextel Cup.

During a break in preseason preparations, Andretti sat down to answer 10 questions not necessarily related to his racing career.

	John Andretti Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers John Andretti Cup career Year No. W T-5 T-10 2005 4 0 0 0 2004 9 0 0 0 2003 29 0 0 1 2002 36 0 0 1 2001 35 0 1 2 2000 34 0 0 2 1999 34 1 3 10 1998 33 0 3 10 1997 32 1 3 3 1996 30 0 2 3 1995 31 0 1 5 1994 29 0 0 0 1993 4 0 0 0

1. What's your dream vehicle that you don't already own?

Andretti: A Ferrari F50 -- red with tan interior and a radar-blocking device built in.

2. If time on the road weren't an issue, what would be your ideal pet?

Andretti: A Bengal tiger.

Q: Where in the world did that come from?

Andretti: It would just be cool to have -- until it got hungry.

3. What's your biggest pet peeve while driving on the road?

Andretti: The biggest is when people drive like they are the only ones who matter, showing no courtesy to others.

They also usually do things that provoke others to get angry, knowingly. You know, like most race-car drivers.

4. You've had a long career racing a number of different divisions, so what's your worst hotel experience?

Andretti: My wife, Nancy, and I were at an Indy car event at Mid-Ohio. There are basically no hotels and motorcoach living was non-existent at the time.

It was like a hotel, but I'm not sure that its original intent was to be a hotel, or a poorly built house. Our room was, of course, what you would expect in terms of filth, bugs and the like.

I guess we could have lived through all of it, except we actually arranged a room for Nancy's parents to use. It was unfortunate for us, but maybe fortunate for her mom, who became ill and couldn't attend.

I notified the hotel so as to obtain a refund that first day. They refused to refund the money and also refused to give me a key to the room -- they had already rented it again.

So the story goes from a crappy hotel room, Nancy's mom getting sick and then paying for another crappy room that we never went into. I can't really remember the race, but I sure remember that hotel!

5. What's your favorite food?

Andretti: Gnocchi with my Nona Rina's meat sauce. Now that's Italian!

6. If you had to choose, would it be being honest, or being nice?

	John Andretti's hopes for the No. 14 Ford didn't pan out. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers John Andretti 2005   Cup Truck Races 4 4 Wins 0 0 Top-5 0 0 Top-10 0 2 DNF 1 1 Avg. Start 31.5 20.0 Avg. Finish 29.0 16.0

Andretti: That is tough. Can I just take 50 percent of each and call it a day?

7. What's your fondest childhood memory?

Andretti: There is no single childhood event -- just the entire time I spent with my dad (Aldo) racing go-karts.

We built and/or repaired the karts during the week and then raced on the weekends. It was great.

8. What would your dream date be? Where and with whom?

Andretti: I know it will sound corny, but my dream date already happened in San Francisco.

I was racing -- can you imagine -- and Nancy was with me. That night after the race I took her to the Golden Gate Bridge and proposed to her.

The best part is that she said, "YES!"

9. Racing and pranks seem to go hand in hand, so what's your worst prank, either perpetrated by you, or done to you?

Andretti: Not sure it was either. I was in Seekonk, Mass., to race a USAC Midget with my dad and a couple of other guys helping out.

We had my car owner, Rollie Helmling's van, trailer and race car parked out in front of the hotel. There was a knock on our hotel room door, and the guy who answered it was pale when he turned to me and said, "It's for you."

When I got to the door there were two, maybe three, officers with guns in hand. They asked if I had an automatic weapon in my possession.

I did, but it was a water gun. As I went outside to show these officers, there were official vehicles surrounding the van with additional armed officers as well -- there was also a SWAT team on the roof of the hotel and a restaurant adjacent to the hotel.

Evidently, an elderly couple from the restaurant saw it in the back of the van and reported us. As we got to the rear of the van I opened the door and stepped back so that one of the officers could get the water gun.

He picked it up and began to shoot the other officers with what little water there was left in it. I guess you can say that we inadvertently played a bad prank on ourselves.

I do have to say the bags of potato chips on the kneeler at the altar during my wedding ceremony was OK -- but only because the bags stayed closed.

I'm not sure what I would've called it if the bags would've opened -- homicide, maybe.

10. Finally, what would you consider your "Welcome to NASCAR" moment?

Andretti: That's easy -- my first race.

It was at North Wilkesboro, N.C. Qualifying was an introduction to NASCAR on its own merits, but the real story is the race.

I think that every driver -- including Mark Martin -- spun me out. I think that he just didn't want to be left out.

Now don't get me wrong, I will take the blame for most of the incidents -- but surely not all could be my doing on one day.

After the race I went up to Rick Mast and said, "Thank you." He looked a little bit bewildered by my comment, so I explained, "It's easier for me to thank you for NOT spinning me out than to be mad at everyone else."

He just laughed, but I was serious.